Brewer's: Clack Dish

A dish or basin with a movable lid. Some two or three centuries ago beggars used to proclaim their want by clacking the lid of a wooden dish.

“Can you think I get my living by a bell and clack-dish?” ... “How's that?” “Why, begging, sir.” Family of Love (1608).

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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